Lesson Plan Details

Where’s the Water? (FBCEC)

Topic

HydrologyLaboratory and Hands-on Activities - General

Summary

Water is a renewable yet limited resource. Participants will consider where water comes from and why conservation is important. Groundwater models help investigate the structure of aquifers and visualize how humans impact the water supply.

Fresh water is vital to human survival. Even though 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, very little is fresh water. Much of the fresh water is either frozen in icecaps and glaciers or in aquifers too deep under ground to be pumped out. While the water cycle recharges freshwater supplies with precipitation, it is possible to use or pollute the water supplies faster than the cycle can renew them.

Procedure

Demonstrate “A Drop in the Bucket” from the Project WET curriculum guide, which illustrates the percentage of water available for human use and the need for conservation.

Follow with “The Incredible Journey,” also from Project WET. Participants will play the role of a water molecule as it moves through the water cycle.

Remind participants that most of the Earth’s fresh water is under ground. Use a groundwater model to show the structure of aquifers, how they are recharged and the effect of drawing from wells. Discuss ways people use water and the significance of increased supply to growing populations. Also demonstrate how pollution (food dye) can enter the aquifer and becomes ”everyone’s problem.” Note the formation of underground plumes of pollution and how it spreads through the aquifer, reaching other wells as well as surface water.

Modifications

Ask participants to estimate the amount of water their household uses in one day. An average American family of four uses approximately 350 gallons a day. Discuss (perhaps list on a marker board) the household uses for water. Ask how their family (or the participant) can conserve water. Should they? Will they?

To challenge participants, have them write a list or paragraph describing how their lives would be affected if two liters (about ½ gallon) of water per day were all that was available to each family member. Then go play in the creek!

Review

List and describe the main processes in the water cycle.

Explain why so little fresh water, relatively speaking, is available for humans.